Tassie greyhound Jamella Jet in world’s richest race

IN-FORM Tasmanian-owned and bred greyhound Jamella Jet has made his way into the final of the world’s richest greyhound race.

Jamella Jet wins a Hobart Maiden Thousand semi-final earlier this year.

IN-FORM Tasmanian-owned and bred greyhound Jamella Jet has made his way into the final of the world’s richest greyhound race to be held in Sydney on Saturday night.

The first running of the Million Dollar Chase that offers a cool $1 million to the winner, will be run over 520 metres at Wentworth Park and is the culmination of a series of qualifying heats and a round of semi-finals last Friday night.

Jamella Jet, a winner of seven of his 14 starts, won his semi-final convincingly to secure a berth in the rich final.

The dog is owned by David Booth, of Riverside, and is trained in NSW by the father and son combination of Andrew and Adam Crouch.

“To have a dog in this race is unbelievable,” Booth said.

“When you buy a four-month-old pup, you just hope for the best and, if they can win a few races, it is a good result but to have one in a race worth $1 million to the winner is out of this world.”

Booth has been involved with greyhounds for over 40 years and it was the feats of his former star Jamella Prince more than 20 years ago that helped set his family up financially.

“I’ve been dabbling in greyhound breeding and racing for a long time and Jamella Prince was sensational because he won a number of Group races for me and the money we earned from that and his deeds at stud pretty much paid for our property at Riverside.

“We breed and rear the greyhounds on the property and they don’t leave until they are ready to race, so all the ground work is done here in Tasmania.

“I was contacted by the son, Adam Couch, after Jamella Jet had won a few races and he and his father were keen to get him into their kennel.

“I liked the way they go about their business, so after some consideration, I decided to send the dog to them and they have done a great job with him so far.

“Having a runner in a race that will net the winner $1 million is fairytale stuff but Adam [Crouch] was talking about this race as a target about three months ago.”

Jamella Jet [Fernando Bale-Millie Grace] was bred by Karlene Cuthbertson who has long been one of Tasmania’s premier greyhound breeders.

“When you breed greyhounds, you hope that each litter produces healthy pups that can go on and hopefully win some races but to have bred one that has the chance to win a race worth $1 million to the winner is quite extraordinary.

“Jamella Jet is from a brilliant litter that has managed to win over 60 races and notch over 100 placings for over $150,000 in stakes but, if Jamella Jet wins on Saturday night, naturally it is going to add quite a bit more kudos to Tasmanian breeding.”

Booth said he had invited Cuthbertson to travel to Sydney with him to watch the race.

“All along David [Booth] has kept me up to date with how the dog has been going in Sydney, so I really feel a part of the whole journey and being there on Saturday night will be brilliant.”

Booth confirmed Jamella Jet has also received a first-round invitation to tackle the Group 1 TopGun at The Meadows next month.